When former House Speaker Tom Foley (above) died the other day, Brian Williams of NBC offered a brief eulogy in which he said that Foley “served in a different era” — thusly implying that the politics of 20 years ago were more civil and fair-minded than today.

Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog TAKES ISSUE with Williams by noting that Foley was the victim of unfounded gay-baiting by Republican operatives:

Yes, every obituary of Tom Foley says that he worked extremely well across the aisle. But he did not “serve in a different era.” He served at the dawn of the godawful era we’re living in now.

Brian Williams might have mentioned that. But he’d rather have you believe that what’s troubling politics today is a temporary fever, and not the GOP’s standard operating procedure for at least a quarter of a century.